ROver ARTery Project

river ARTery

an urban regeneration project for the thames of london

2

above & cover image nexus of river inter-connected art spaces on the Thames from Putney Bridge to Tower Bridge

river ARTery

An urban regeneration project for the Thames of London by

Groves Natcheva Architects

London was born in the waters of the Thames; now it seems concerned only with escaping them. River ARTery project seeks to return the river—its banks, its piers, its tideway, not the abstract concept—to the heart of London life, by deftly synergizing a set of urban, economic, political, and ecological drivers to create a nexus of riverfront landmarks concerned with the appreciation of art.

We have conceived a set of twenty river-interconnected art spaces— galleries, studios, performance halls—built on the tideway within current government guidelines, distributed along the banks of the Thames from Putney Bridge to Tower Bridge. Next to useless on their own, their locations have potentially transformative power taken together, unified by a consequently energized system of river transport, both public and private. Art is here used as a catalyst—as the Guggenheim in Bilbao or the High Line in New York—to bring back to life a part of the city that has been comatose for generations.

GROVES NATCHEVA ARCHITECTS 3

4

right location of 60 potential plots on the Thames between Putney Bridge and Tower Bridge within a study of existing art spaces - galleries, community art centres, private collectins, art schools & art venues

GROVES NATCHEVA ARCHITECTS 5

6

right location of 60 potential plots on the Tames between Putney Bridge and Tower Bridge with aerial images of each site

GROVES NATCHEVA ARCHITECTS 7

above nexus of river inter-connected art spaces on the Thames from Putney Bridge to Tower Bridge

10 above

riverside view of Bullet House from Chelsea Harbour by Groves Natcheva Architects

The Bullet House, proposed for plot 5 of the global map, demonstrates our approach to building on the tideway. It is an example of how a disused dock of merely 300 square metres can be transformed into gallery space of 1500 square metres. Its architecture is shaped by the convergence of two key ideas: the desire to create a landmark on the riverbank, and the essential nature of architecture by water.

Government directives for such landmarks work well with the essence of an art gallery: not a shell for its contents, but a surrogate, an emblem for what is held within. The architecture of an art gallery has a responsibility to attempt – even if it might fail – what the objects inside achieve. In short, it has to be an object of art, not just a repository of art objects.

A building by water is shaped by two peculiar forces. First, the reflectivity of the water, duplicating everything around it, together with the linearity of the bank, enforces a tedious regularity of appearance we must try to escape. Second, water signals a port: a point of contact with otherness – whether alien or not – which buildings so sited ought to acknowledge in their own form.

The building, then, does not look like one. A fractured façade evades easy reflection, a stealth bomber glancing off radar. Like an object of art, its organization is only answerable to itself. It is a chamber of curiosities holding precious objects, and is a jewel in its own right. Its current form is a statement of architectural intent, a rough stone, waiting to be shaped by the brief of the client who will make it their own.

Twenty more are imagined to be designed by others within the framework of River ARTery.

GROVES NATCHEVA ARCHITECTS 11

Plot 5 Case Study